Nintendo has announced that Virtual Console is coming to Wii U this Spring. Due approximately in April, Wii U&rsquo;s Virtual Console won&rsquo;t offer all of the Wii&rsquo;s Virtual Console library to start, but will begin with NES and SNES games.
Like on Wii, NES games will range from $4.99-$5.99, while SNES games will run $7.99-$8.99. If you already own the game on Wii, you&rsquo;ll be able to purchase the Wii U version at a discounted price ($1 for NES games and $1.50 for SNES), provided you're willing to transfer your Wii VC titles to your Wii U. Wii U eShop games will offer features including save states (similar to 3DS), the option to play entirely on the GamePad and the ability to post to Miiverse.
To kick off the Virtual Console launch and to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Famicom, Nintendo also announced the Wii U Virtual Console Trial Campaign, which begins today and runs through July. The campaign will offer one game each month at the heavily discounted price of $0.30 and will include the following:
January: Balloon Fight
February: F-Zero
March: Punch-Out Featuring Mr. Dream
April: Kirby&rsquo;s Adventure
May: Super Metroid
June: Yoshi
July: Donkey Kong
Separately, Nintendo announced that new updates will be coming to Wii U&rsquo;s operating system as well as to Miiverse. Two Wii U OS updates are coming in Spring and Summer and will, among other changes, improve loading times such as those when backing out from an application to the Wii U menu.
Miiverse, meanwhile, will soon allow users to create their own communities, will expand to more than one community per game and will add the ability to filter content. Miiverse will soon be available via smartphones and PCs as well (as Nintendo previously detailed), allowing players to log in with their Nintendo Network ID to access some Miiverse features via their browser. Nintendo said it plans to eventually release some kind of Miiverse app, though no other details were given.
All of these features are coming to Miiverse &ldquo;in the near future,&rdquo; though specific timing wasn&rsquo;t announced. Nintendo also discussed new game-specific features for Miiverse -- Pikmin 3 will take advantage of the GamePad&rsquo;s camera to let players take pictures of wildlife and post them to Miiverse, and Wii Fit U will get special communities that let players gather and compare fitness notes. Both games are due in the first half of 2013.